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THE STRAxNGENESS OF GOD'S WAYS. 



SERMOIST 



PREACHED BEFOBE THE 



ilttntl^s of ffil^kp^lillk. 



ovr 



Thanksgiving Day, November 24t]i, 1864, 



BY THE 



Rev. homer N. DUNNING, 



Pastor of the Congregational Church. 



GLOVERSVILLE : 

GEO. W. HEATON, BOOK & JOB PRINTER. 
1865. 



THE STRANGENESS OF GOD'S WAYS. 



SERMON^ 



PREACHED BEFORE THE 



S|wi!|« III ffihflllfiliilk. 



Thanksgiving Day, November 24th, 1864, 



BY THE 



Rev. homer N. DUNNING, 



Pastor of the Congregational Church. 



GLOVERSVILLE : 

6EO. W. HEATON, BOOK & JOB PRINTER. 

1865. 



^^ 



6« 



1^ 



o^ 



THE STRANGENESS OF GOD'S WAYS. 



Isaiah, XXVIII, 21. That He may do His work, His strange 
work • and bring to pass his act, his strange act. 

There are two opposite extremes in the gracious dealings of 
God's Providence with men for which they find it the hardest 
to be thankful, viz : for common blessings, and for uncommon 
trials. There come in our human life blessings which are 
special and remarkable — gifts of God in the form of signal 
prosperity or unexpected deliverance ; there come days of hap- 
piness which are, as compared with the common days that 
precede and follow them, like diamonds strung on the same 
thread with common glass-beads, shining torth conspicuous 
not only by their own intrinsic lustre, but so much the brighter 
by contrast with the dull hue of the others ; there come crises 
of experience at which the man seems lifted above the dreary 
level of common-place thought and feelmg to mountain-heights 
of enjoyment, when Heaven seems to bend low above his 
head full of blessing, and the very air around him seems to 
palpitate with the sympathy and goodness of God. Such sig- 
nal blessings as these — such days of diamond brilliance — such 
crises of exalted experience — often seem to make men grateful 
in spite of themselves — often as we may say, stcrprise them into 
gratitude to God, the giver of every good and perfect gift, and 
they are forced to cry out : "this is the finger of God — this is 
the gift of God — praise be to God — thanks be to God for his 
unspeakable gift." This spontaneous gratitude for such bles- 
sings is expressed in the very name by which they are common- 
ly described — they are called godsends, that is, things which 
come directly from God. 

But the most of the gifts of Providence have no such special 
character ; they are rather what may be called common bles- 
sings, that is, they are blessings which are universally or ha- 



4 The Strangeness op God's Ways. 

bitually enjoyed. The blessing of ^(/e— a place to live in the 
world as a conscious, intelligent soul, inhabiting a vital, active 
body, upon this solid earth, beneath these blue heavens, amid 
this" wondrous system of existence ; the blessings of health 
and faculties of activity and enjoyment adapted to every ob- 
ject and pliase of this existence ; the blessings of supply for 
the wants and necessities of this condition — food, raiment, 
shelter, comforts for the body— objects of knowledge, pursuit, 
love, enjoyment for the soixl; the blessings of daily activity and 
nightly rest — the shining of the sun and the glitter of the stars 
— the changes of the seasons with their spring bloom and au- 
tumn abundance, their summer showers and wdnter storms ; the 
blessings of domestic felicity and social friendship and public 
order and religious privilege ; all these and ten thousand oth- 
ers are what may be called common blessings — they are enjoy- 
ed more or less by all and more or less every day. And just 
because they are so common, they come to be regarded as a 
matter of course ; because they are habitually enjoyed, their 
enjoyment becomes a kind of second nature ; and the sense of 
the agency and goodness of God in their bestowment drops 
out of mind altogether. So it happens that the very habitual 
faithfulness of God in doing good to all men all the time, which 
really displays his goodness far more than any occasional ben- 
efit however remarkable, is made the reason for almost losing- 
sight of his hand entirely, as if these common blessings came of 
themselves. 

Hut still more difficult is it for men to feel gratitude for nn- 
common. trials. Indeed the very naming of such a thing strikes 
the common mind as an absurdity. For how is it possible to 
feel thankful for what is unpleasant and afflictive ? And if the 
only object of life Avas to make men hap})y, this would be the 
necessary conclusion. But because the object of life is some- 
thing higlier than this, viz: to make men nobler and better ; 
and because trials in every form — pains of the body, sorrows 
of the heart, atttictions of the life, disappointments and calami- 
ties of Ibrtune, are the chosen means of providential discipline 
by which tliis moral benefit is secured ; and because it is the 
same hainl of Divine (ioodness w'hieli mingles trials with bles- 
sings, sorrows with joys, attiictions with benefits, disappoint- 
ments with successes ; therefore these trials of our earthly con- 
dition art! subjeets, not for murmuring as unmitigated evils — 
not for mere resignation as to an irresistible fatality, but 
rattier for real gratitude as for bitter, but most wholesome 
medicine. And if one can reach that height of grace where he 
can feel this down in the very center and core of his heart — 
te«l this gratitude for the moral trials of his experience, then 



The Strangeness of God's Ways. 6 

there is no doubt whatever that his gratitude is genuine — thai 
his thanksgiving is a sacrifice accejjtable to God. So then 1 
choose this for my theme of discourse to-day — the occasion for 
gratitude in the strange works and ways, the strange trials and 
discipline of ou,r national condiiion. I have taken the text only 
as suggesting the strangeness of God's providential dealings 
with men, speaking, as it does, of his works as '■'■strange works," 
and his acts as '•'•strange acts." 

Let it be observed in general that there is nothing really 
strange in the strangeness of God's dealings with men ; rather 
we may say it is common to find them strange. As a general 
rule we find that God thinks and acts in just the way in which 
men have least expected — just the way in which they think he 
ought not to have acted. The Bible frequently speaks of this 
peculiarity of his conduct, "my thoughts are not your thoughts, 
neither are your ways my ways, saith the Lord ;" " how vm- 
searchable are his judgments and his ways past finding out!" 
And all experience confirms these testimonies. In the creation 
of the woi'ld, for example, man's way would doubtless have 
been to have spoken it into existence by one word of omnipo- 
tent power ; but God's way was rather to bring it into its pres- 
ent condition through millions of years of slow and patient 
preparation. In the government of the world, man's way 
would be to cause sin and wickedness to be followed by swift 
retribution ; but God's way is rather to let justice slumber for 
a time, and leave iniquity to work out its own inevitable pun- 
ishment. In the redemption of mankind, man's way would 
have been to have sent the Redeemer into the world immediate- 
ly after sin and death had entered ; but God's way was to put 
mankind through thousands of years of preparatory discipline 
before Christ should come. And yet in all these cases we can 
find reason to believe that God's way is infinitely better than 
man's. Let us see if we cannot find the same thing true in our 
national experience. 

I. Let us find our first occasion for gratitude to God in the 
strange origin and growth of slavery in our country. It is not 
my intention to claim that God is ever in any sense the author 
or cause of evil. He is a God of goodness, " from whom com- 
eth down every good gift and every perfect gift ;" but " cannot 
be tempted with evil, neither tempteth he any man." Never- 
theless, since God is the absolute sovereign of the world, and 
nothing can exist which is not under the eye and hand of his 
government, therefore even what is evil must exist at least by 
his permission. It is one of the strange things of his unsearch- 
able ways ; but the mystery must not cause us to go so far as 
to deny his agency in the providential permission of evil. The 



6 The Straxgexess of God's Ways. 

same Hand which planted the Garden of Eden with flowers 
and fruits, caused also thorns and thistles to spring up in the 
track of man's sin. The same Hand that planted the tree of 
life in the garden, planted also, hard by it, the tree of the 
knowledge of good and evil. The same Hand that made man 
in his ow"n image, holy and perfect, made also the subtle ser- 
pent in whose disguise the spirit of evil crept into the garden 
and wormcil his way into the human heart. If you ask why 
these things were done, your question strikes against the hard 
problem— the insoluble enigma— why there is any such thing 
as evil in the world at all. Only this can be said, that the tree of 
knowledge of good and evil and the serpent of temptation 
were the necessary means of the moral trial and discipline of 
man, the necessary prelude also to the great mystery and glory 
of Divine redemption. 

Ai»ply then these principles to the history of our coimtry. 
We .-ire accustomed to trace tlie hand of Divine Providence in 
the Landing of the Pilgrims — in the settlement of our country 
by English Puritans, the champions and pioneers of civil and 
religious freedom. AVe are accustomed to mark the agency of 
God in planting on the shores of New England the tree of lib- 
erty to be a tree of life and blessing to the nation. But was it 
not the same Hand of Divine Providence that in the very year 
of the Landing of the Pilgrims, the year 1G20, brought the 
first cargo of African Slaves to Virginia? The same ocean that 
bore upthe May Flower Avith her precious freight of freedom, 
bore up also that Dutch vessel with her baleful cargo of slav- 
ery ; the same winds wafted them over the seas, the one to 
Plymouth Rock, the other to the .Tames River. 

And so in this new Garden of Eden, side by side with the 
tree of liberty and life, the tree of slavery was planted, destin- 
ed to be to our nation the tree of knowledge of good and evil. 
And the tn-e grew and flourished ; and the serpent of temp- 
tation nestled under its luxuriant foliage, beguiling men to 
eat with the flattering baits of jiower and pride : " ye shall be 
as gods"; and " when they saw that the tree was good for 
food and jjleasant to the sight and a tree to be desired to make 
them wise" and rich, and ]»owerfnl and great — to make them 
indei'd yoda on a small scale — they took of the tree and ate, 
forgetting that it was also the tree of death. Not only did 
the South eat of it, but it took of the fruit thereof and gave to 
the North and the North did eat. Even the descendants of 
the Pilgrims ate of it — sons of liberty ; sending their ships to 
Africa to share in the lucrative traffic in slaves. Political par- 
ties ate of it, permitting none to be exalted to seats of power 
and honor save those who had tasted of its forbidden fruit and 



The Strangeness of God's Ways. 7 

received "the mark of the beast in their foreheads." Religious 
societies and churches ate of it, echoing the flattering lie of the 
tempter : " yea hath God said, ye shall not eat of every tree 
of the garden"? is not slavery possibly right ? is it not a prov- 
idential blessing ? is it not a Divine Ordinance, or at least a 
Divine Curse upon the African llace '? And so the whole na- 
tion ate of it, building up its magnificent temple of National 
Union and Constitutional Freedom with its colossal columns 
and its swelling dome sur mounted by the statue of the god- 
dess of liberty, clad with the draping folds of the starry flag — 
all resting upon the black foundation of four millions of slaves! 

Now the point of ray* argument is that this establishment 
and growth of slavery as so important an element in our na- 
tional life was not a matter of accident, nor of mere human 
agency, but of Divine Providence. God's Hand was in it. 

What then is the meaning of the strange mystery ? Why 
must this old dragon of oppression and wrong, which had so 
long crushed mankmd in the old world, find entrance and scope 
for a new field of wickedness in the new ? Why must the 
African Race be brought here to become the victims of injus- 
tice and the bone of contention for generations V Here is a 
problem whose full explanation I shall not pretend to give. 
Only so much is now apparent. Is it not plain that the provi- 
dential design was that the institution of slavery might serve 
as our national tree of the knowledge of good and evil — the 
grand instrument of our national temptation and trial ? Our 
nation was founded — our republic was organized upon the 
principles of freedom and the rights of man. In our infancy 
there was enough to test the faith and fidelity of our ancestors 
to these principles in their sufierings and sacrifices in the set- 
tlement of the country. In our youth the fiery trial of the Rev- 
olution still further developed those principles, matm-ed them 
into strong convictions in the jjopular mind, and inscribed 
them upon the firm pillars of the Declaration of Indepen- 
dence and the Constitution 6f the Union. 

But when the nation has grown to manhood — when it has 
waxed strong and great and powerful — when it has stretched 
its long arms and spread its overshadowing wings over the 
continent — when it is reaching ils ambitious hand upward like 
Lucifer among the stars of God, to snatch as from the heavens 
the dazzling diadem of majesty as the Imperial Republic of 
the world, what shall make it faithful to the principles and tra- 
ditions of its past history — ^faithful to freedom and humanity ? 
What else could compel it to pause in the mid career of its 
swelling power and pride, wealth and ambition, but just such 
a cancer at the heart as the terrible evil of African Slavery ? 



8 The Strangeness of God's Ways. 

This has compelled it to pause, meeting us at every turn, like 
the iahulous Sphinx ol' ancient mythology with her puzzlmg 
riddles, re(|uiriiiir as conditions ot all further progress— condi- 
tions indeed of life and death— answers to these trying ques- 
tions : what is freedom ? is it the exclusive heritage of the 
White Race, or is it the rightful possession of mankind of every 
race ? what is Christianity ? does it mean privilege and bles- 
sing for the stronu' and powerful, or does it mean also liberty 
and justice fur the poor and oj)pressed ? Tough questions in- 
deed and hard to answer, especially when the right answer 
costs sonu'thincc — costs money — costs political power — costs 
worldly i>ride and ambition. But th^rial is most wholesome 
and beneficent ; and has already done immeasurable good in 
purifying the heart — in rectifying the conscience — in determin- 
ing the destinies of the nation as'the world's standard-bearer of 
human freedom. 

It is vain for us then, in the perplexity of our trial, to mur- 
mur against the strange providence of God — to kick against 
the pricks — by crying : oh that the African Race had remained 
in their own land, or could be restored to their own land, 
where they belong ! oh that freedom might have had this land 
as her heritage in peace without conflict with slavery ! For 
this is God'sstrange work of judgment for our national disci- 
pline — " this Cometh forth from the Lord of hosts, who is won- 
derful in counsel and excellent in working." And already as 
we begin to see the clouds of this judgment lifting and break- 
ing away — already as we see some of the bright results of this 
trial shining forth to view, we find occasion for gratitude to 
God for thus " doing his work, his strange work, and bringing 
to pass his act, his strange act." Already we rejoice that God 
did not leave us to sail in the smooth seas of carnal ease and 
selfish enjopnent, but swept us out on the rough ocean to fight 
with winds and waves, that we may do something noble for 
the moral education of the world and the permanent benefit of 
mankind. 

II. Let us find our next occasion for gratitude in the out- 
break and events of the rebellion and civil rear that convidse 
the country. War, like slavery, is, in itself, to be regarded as 
a terrible evil, always to be d^>lored, however just and neces- 
sary. War means destruction — destruction of life, of property, 
of everything that constitutes the order and welfare of society. 
War means the shedding ot blood, the breaking of hearts, the 
flo^nng of tears, the wasting of treasure, the havoc and ruin of 
civilization. And yet even war, like slavery, may be a provi- 
dential and moral necessity, appointed of God for the judgment 
and discipline of men. Let us here take another lesson from 



The Strangeness of God's Ways. 9 

the original entrance of moral evil into the world. When Ad- 
am and Eve had eaten of the forbidden fruit, they soon began 
to become conscious of their sins ; and they would fain hide 
away from themselves and from the presence of God. But in 
vain their tig-leaves — in vain their hiding-place under the thick 
trees of the garden ! God's voice penetrates their concealment 
with the ringing words : " Adam where art thou ?" Those 
words meant not only discovery of their sin, but war and judg- 
ment — enmity with bruisings of head and heel between the 
seed of the woman and the seed of the serpent. And when 
our nation had eaten of the forljidden fruit of slavery and be- 
gan to become conscious of its sin and its nakedness in the 
sight of God and men, it also would fain hide itself under the 
cover of excuses and compromises. But in vain ; the voice of 
God's judgment is heard through all disguises, calling the na- 
tion to judgment, and proclaiming war against the evil — war 
in which the nation itself must be bruised for its sins, but in 
which the serpent of slavery must be fatally and finally crush- 
ed. 

If the system of slavery were necessary for the trial and dis- 
cipline of the nation, it would have been far more pleasant if 
the evil could have been got rid of by the peaceful action of 
moral causes — by appeals to the reason, the conscience, the 
Christian feeling of the people. And these influences had their 
time and course, and did their work. These many years the 
agitation has been in progress until the reason of all who wish- 
ed to be enlightened has been enlightened — the consciences of 
all who wished to be convicted have been convicted — the 
hearts of all who wished to be touched have been touched, 
with the evil and wrong of slavery. And yet the evil existed 
in all its stupendous magnitude, unafiected by all these influen- 
ces, entrenched in the passions, the prejudices, the institutions 
of the country, and fortified by its dangers against every as- 
sault. What can be done ? The wisdom of man fails and sits 
down in despair. But now comes on the stage, the strange, 
wonder-working providence of God. War, God's red-handed 
messenger, with glittering sword, comes forth to cut the knot 
which man cannot untie. The Slave-Power, struck as from 
heaven with judicial madness, breaks out into rebellion, and 
raises its parricidal hand to stab the nation to its heart. And 
now the sharp questions strike home deep into the hearts of the 
people — shall the nation die that slavery may live, or shall 
slavery die that the nation may live ? shall our free institutions 
be sacrificed that slavery may be maintained, or shall we give 
freedom to the African Race as the price of our own freedom ? 
That is just where we are, or rather I may say, where we have 
2 



10 The Strangeness of God's Ways. 

been, for I think we have passed the crisis of these questions. 
But that is pvf oisely what the war means. It means that what 
reason, foiiscienrt', religion could not do, that must be done by 
" the spirit of jiid,<;iuent and the spirit of burning." It means 
that tiiose interests, prejudices, passions of men in favor of the 
wrong, which would not yield to peaceful influences, must be 
burned out of them by the breath of tire. Ah, when the luan 
comes to stand under fire as a soldier in defence ot his country 
he cainiot help asking, what force sends the bullet aimed at 
his heart ! When he gives those of his own flesh and blood as 
a sacrifice, he cannot help asking, who is guilty of ail this blood- 
shed and sorrow ! When the nation pours out its thousands 
of millions of treasure as the price of its Union and Liberty, it 
cannot help asking : What is the cause of this frightful waste ? 
And so the anti-slavery providence of God has made our na- 
tion an anti-slavery nation ! 

Very wonderful is the way in which in this matter God has 
" done his work, his strange work, and brought to pass his act, 
his strange ^ct." It is but a little while since it seemed as if 
everything human and worldly w^as on the side of slavery in 
our country. The interests of trade and commerce, bolstered 
up by four million bales of cotton ; political parties bribed in 
favor of slavery by the dazzling prizes of place and power ; 
ecclesiastical bodies gagged to silence by cowardly feai's ; pub- 
lic opinion corrupted into the defence of slavery and the perse- 
cution of the champions of treedom. All this marshalled host 
of forces on one side ; and on the other side what ? Nothing 
but the still small voice o\ God in the conscience and heart ! 
But that was mightier than them nil. For now what do we 
see V Freedom now speaks by the mouth not of a few despised 
Abolitionists, but by the mouth of the President of the Nation, 
proclaiming liberty to the enslaved. It speaks now not through 
the organization of a moral society, but through the marching 
<-«>luinMs of mighty armies. It speaks not through the plat- 
form-s[)eech or sermon or newsjtaper, but through iron missiles 
sped to their mark by the wings of fire ! It speaks not in favor 
of a race all crushed under the yoke of slavery, but a race of 
which two hundred thonsand have already stood in the ranks 
as soldiers in defence of their own freedom. And therefore 
much as we doplort- the calamities of war — much as we sorrow 
for lives sacrilicf(l and homes desolated, yet when we contem- 
[tlate these wonderful results, we cannot but rejoice and be 
gratefid to God t(»r them. We thank God tor this terrible 
haptism of fllv which has been the means of our purification. 
We thank him for the fidelity to principle which has nerved 
the people to meet the moral issues of the conflict. We thank 



The Strangeness of God's Ways. 11 

him for the stern determination that any sacrifice however 
costly, of life or property, shall be made to preserve the insti- 
tutions of freedom and the integrity of the republic. We thank 
him for the patience of the nation in the endurance of these 
four years of war, its s})irit never broken by disaster, its par- 
pose never yielding in the darkest hours. We thank liim for 
the heroism of brave men who have poured out their blood on 
the field of battle ; and for the not less noble heroism of brave 
women, who have endured in loneliness the absence of sons, 
brothers, husbands, friends, fighting in the ranks of the army, 
or suffering in distant hospitals, or dying by inches in rebel 
prisons, or sleeping in graves far away, never alas ! to be visit- 
ed by the loving feet, or hallowed by the sacred tears of those 
they loved the best. God comfort them in their loneliness and 
sorrow to-day with the assurance that their country is grateful 
to them and grateful to God for their heroism and sacrifices ! 

III. Let us find further occasion for gratitude in the strange 
manner in xohieJi God has thus far led us on through this cri- 
sis. If we must pass through this ordeal of w^ar, our human 
way would have been to get through it as soon as possible. 
The outcry at the outbreak of the rebellion was : let the war 
be short, sharp and decisive. And the standing prophecy and 
expectation ever since has been that three months more will 
end the war. This is always man's spontaneous feeling, when 
God puts him into some furnace of trial, to get out of the fire 
as soon as possible. Whereas God's way is to keep him in the 
fire till the design of the trial is accomplished. It takes time 
to melt hard metals and mould them into vessels for use and 
ornament ; and it takes time to melt men's hearts and shape 
them to the purposes of Divine wisdom. It takes time to burn 
deep into their natures moral lessons which shall abide for gen- 
erations. The Israelites might have marched from Egypt to 
Canaan by a straight course in a week's time, but God's strange 
way was to send them on a roundabout journey of forty years 
through the angry waters of the Red Sea — through the dreary 
wastes of the desert, beneath the thundering brow of Mount 
Sinai, through privation, hardships, suft'ering, death, marking 
their sad way with the graves of the slain and the dead ot a 
whole generation. 

Well, is it not evident that something like this has been trne 
in this trial of our nation ? The rebellion might have been 
ended and the war closed by a single campaign, if that had 
been all that God's Providence intended by this crisis. But 
no ! the deadly sore of the nation would not then have been 
touched ; the caustic would not then have been applied to the 
proud flesh of the nation's cancer ; the fire would not then 



12 The Strangeness of God's Ways. 

have consumed the festering corruptions of the nation's sins. 
So the trial must be not only severe but protracted, until the 
nation in its agony is ready to cry out not only for deliverance 
from its troubles, but also for redemption from its sins. The 
people must smart under the punishment of their national crimes 
and oppressions, until full atonement is made for their share 
and complicity with wrong. See how wonderfully God has 
" done his work, his strange work, and brought to pass his act, 
his strange act," in this respect also. The same madness that 
plunged the champions of slavery into rebellion, has settled 
into a dogged obstinacy in persisting in their course unto their 
utter destruction. They have been just successful enough to 
keep their purpose alive, and make them repel all offers of re- 
concilation. On the other hand the national cause has experi- 
enced just enough of defeat and disaster to try the hearts and 
detennine the courage of the people, bringing up their princi- 
ples and their spirits to the grandeur of the struggle and the 
moral issues of the crisis. 

And, so step by step the process of education has gone on. 
thirst the nation as a whole was ready for nothing more than 
the crusliiug of the rebellion as speedily as possible. Then un- 
der the discipline of disaster it grew ri])e for the proclamation 
of freedom. Then it advanced still further to the arming of 
emancipated slaves as soldiers of the Union. And now the' 
voice of the people, smarting with the sorrows and burdened 
Avith the cost of the war — as the voice of many waters and as 
the voice of mighty thunderings — utters the solemn verdict : 
" let the Union live at all hazards ! let not only the rebellion 
be crushed, but let its very heart — slavery — be torn out and 
stamped undei- toot until its last vestige ot life is trampled out 
forever !" So the Providence of God marches on its strange 
courses, with majestic tread, slow in its moA'ements, because 
sure of its results ! 

And the results already begin to appear ; the signs in the 
heavens grow hopeful, that the storm may be indeed breaking 
away. We see them in the political world, not merely in the 
result of the late election, for which I give thanks not in any 
partisan sense, ])ut only because it secures the vigorous prose- 
cution of the war to its triumjjhant close; but especially in the 
late movements in the Border Slave States. Maryland through 
whose capital four years ago the President Elect passed in dis- 
guise in the night — through which also Massachusetts soldiers 
marching to the defence of Washington were struck down by 
murderous liands — Maryland has just adopted a Free Constitu- 
tion emancipating her slaves. Missouri — the home of Border 
Rufhaoism, Ity which free Kansas was so long threatened and 



The Strangeness of God's Ways, 13 

so often invaded — has just elected "a Convention to form a 
Free Constitution and ordain emancipation. Even in Kentucky 
a strong party is already organized and rapidly growing, seek- 
ing the same result. And in every Southern State subdued by 
our armies the same influences begin to work. Even the re- 
bels driven to extremities are agitating the dangerous question 
of recruiting their exhausted armies with their slaves. 

And in the military field the signs are no less encouraging. 
Price's horde of guerrillas has just been defeated and driven 
out of Missouri. Sherman has swooped down like an eagle 
from the mountains of Tennessee upon the plains of Georgia, 
and has lately declared that there is nothing to prevent his 
marching wherever he pleases. Sheridan has three times 
charged upon the enemy with such staggering shocks as have 
sent their forces " whirling" and reeling down the Shenandoah 
Valley. And Grant is continually tightening the serpent coil 
of his forces aroimd the throat of Richmond, waiting for the 
right time to strike the final blow. And now that the Gov- 
ernment is upheld and the army invigorated by the verdict of 
the nation sustaining the war, we have every reason to hope for 
speedy and decisive triumphs. Disasters may still come to 
discipline our patience and test our fidelity, but the final issue 
is now certain. Now that we are right on the moral ground — 
now that our Government is working and our Armies are 
fighting in the same direction in which the Providence of God 
is working and fighting, there is no such word as failure to be 
mentioned. And for all this strange discipline — for all these 
strange works and acts of God, we have reason to give thanks 
to-day. Let us thank him for the dark hours of this struggle 
when our hearts have almost failed us for fear of the things 
coming upon us ; for it is these dark hours, in the poet's words, 
which have 

"Wrung forth the hidden might 
Which had lain bedded in the silent soul — 
A treasure all undreamt of." 

Let us give thanks for our defeats which have wrought out 
the ends of God's providence even more eflfectually than our 
victories. Let us thank God for doing the very thing which 
we would not have done, in the very way which, least of all 
others, we would have chosen. Let us thank him for humbling 
the pride of man, and revealing the mystery of his judgments. 
Let us thank him that we have this choice evidence of his chas- 
tisements, that we are still his chosen people, for it is not 
merely the individual but the nation " which the Lord loveth, 
he chasteneth and scourgeth every son whom he receiveth." 
Especially let us give thanks that streaks of the dawn of peace 



14 The Strajigfness of God's Ways. 

and prosperity begin to shoot up in the horizon of the future, 
giviufj us reason to hope that the night is far spent and the 
day is at hand I 

i\'. Ouoe more let us find occasion for gratitude in the 
yreiit historical lesson which God is preparing through this 
struggle for the nation and the world in the generations to 
come. Let us remember that it is not the knowledge of books 
which constitutes the fundamental education of nations, but 
great events of their history, embodying great ideas — great 
struggles of their experience, involving great principles. The 
Kxoilus of Israel from Eg)-ptian Bondage, and their forty years 
discipline in the wilderness were great landmarks in their his- 
tory which never could be forgotten in all the subsequent gen- 
erations, teaching moral lessons of infinite value to that nation 
and to the world. The settlement of our country by men who 
sacrificed all for a principle — the principle of religious freedom, 
was an event of moral heroism which wove its influence into 
every fibre of the life of their posterity for two hundred years. 
The struggle of the Revolutionary War made its deep marks, 
not only upon the political constitution of the country, but up- 
on the whole character of the people down to the present time. 
And now has come the crisis when we are making history for 
the education of the coming generations. It is but a feeble 
impression which we can gain of the magnitude of the events 
amid which we are living. It is as when you are ascending a 
range of lofty mountains. At first so gradual is the ascent 
that you may be almost unconscious how far you have risen 
above the plain below\ You go on ascending one height after 
another, each perhaps half hidden and overshadowed by its 
neighbor, so that you are unable 'to gain a clear view in any 
direction. There is only here and there a gliiupse through the 
heights of the scenery beneath — there is here and there an 
awful shadow of some towering peak above, but nothing in 
your view is complete and distinct. It is only when you gain 
the summit, where the whole scene, like a vast amphitheatre 
bounded by the far encircling horizon, bursts upon your eye, 
that you are able to feel the vastness, the grandeur, the awful- 
uess of this ocean of mountains rolling its billowy heights away 
far as your eye can reach. So it is with our nation in the great 
evi'iils of this crisis. These years past w^e have been ascend- 
diiig the mountains, and have scarcely known it. Now and 
then some clear-eyed prophet has given us a glimpse of the 
meaning of the scenes through which we were passing. Now 
and then the awful shadows of portentous events have flung 
their impression over us. But really we have scarcely yet be- 
gun to understand that we are among the great mountains of 



The Strangeness of God's Ways. 15 

God's Providence in our history. By and by when we gain 
the summit of these events, and look back over the scene, we 
shall be amazed at their gigantic and immeasurable signifi- 
cance. And even then Ave shall not appreciate their lull meas- 
ure of height and grandeur. But our posterity in the genera- 
tions to come, far out at sea, shall catch sight of the summits 
of these events, and shall steer their course by them as land- 
marks in their voyage over dangerous waters ! 

So then, my hearers, as to-day we fill the cup of thanksgiving 
with the remembrance of the common and special blessings 
of God's Providence, let us mingle with its sweetness this 
element of gratitude to God for strange trials. It will prove 
a wholesome corrective of moral disease and an invigorating 
tonic of moral health to our souls. Perhaps you have had per- 
sonal and domestic sorrows and bereavements, as well as your 
share in the great national trial. Rejoice then that God has 
given you the privilege and put lapon you the honor of suffer- 
ing J What but a poltroon or a coward will shrink and tremble 
when his General promotes him to a post of special diflficulty 
and danger on the high places of the field? What but an ani- 
mal would be satisfied to leave no other record of life but this : 
" he was born — he ate and drank — he enjoyed his life — and he 
died." No ! let us be glad of the struggles that wring out 
our strength. Let us be glad of the trials that discipline our 
patience. Let us be glad of the perils that develope our hero- 
ism. Let us be glad of the sacrifices which are the price of 
victories. And especially let us be glad as a nation that God 
has called us by the strange works and acts of his pro\ddence 
to achieve something memorable in the history of the world — 
something which will live in its benefits long after we are dead. 
So, then, afloat as we are upon the stormy ocean into which 
the Hand of God has flung us — in the midst of the floods of great 
waters, buffeting the waves hither and thither, we lift our 
heads above the waves to praise the God of the ocean and the 
storm ! We know that it is from the bosom of the blackest 
tempest that the presence of God gleams forth as wath the aw- 
ful splendor of lightning, and on the face of the blackest cloud 
the smile of God shines as with the tranquil beauty of the 
rainbow ! 



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